Look beyond the immediate
“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope” (Lamentations 3:19–20).
When the weather is nice, temperatures are pleasant, and a gentle breeze blows, people will sing:
“This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
But when the weather is horrible, temperatures are at the extremes, and perhaps the wind is a gale force, people aren’t as likely to sing.
Yet God makes both kinds of days.
We need to remember that God is good all the time.
His goodness is not dependent on how much we like our current situation.
That must have been Jeremiah’s perspective.
At a time when his soul was “downcast” within him-
– he could look beyond the immediate to the eternal.
Rather than allowing his circumstances to drag him down-
– he focused his attention on God’s faithfulness and said, “I have hope” (v 21).
“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (v 22).
It’s easy to sing the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” when things are going well.
Yet the verses from which that theme is taken do not come from a time of smooth sailing for the prophet.
Instead, it was a time of extreme difficulty.
Jeremiah knew that God is good all the time and that even in the worst of times He is faithful.
Even when life looks hopeless-
– remember that looks can be deceiving.
Ask God today to help you be a person of hope.
Don’t let the immediate cloud your view of the eternal.
Hope in the ever-faithful God.